Part of the routine, when winning five consecutive Section III Class AA championships, is having a shot at a much bigger prize down the road.
To this point, the Baldwinsville boys soccer team have not quite reached that point, still in search of a first-ever state championship.
And that prize remains elusive in the wake of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Shenendehowa in the AA regional final at Colonie High School in suburban Albany.
Unlike 2010, when B’ville zoomed through the regional round and went all the way to the state finals, the regional hurdle would prove too large.
Shenendehowa has a long history of Section II and state championship success. And the Plainsmen also had the advantage of playing close to home, something that proved important in the early going.
Less than 13 minutes into the game, Shen attacked, and Adam Barlow, when a defender fell down, stuck a shot past B’ville goalkeeper Alex Bono, who had allowed nothing in regulation or overtime of the sectional final against Fayetteville-Manlius.
To his credit, Bono, aided by a defensive front that included Matt Miles, Sean Stewart and Austin Jabbour, would keep the Plainsmen off the board the rest of the day. But the Bees’ own attack proved unable to get anything against Shen.
With that, an 18-2 season concluded, and head coach Tim Scheemaker faces major roster turnover.
Bono departs, as does Miles, Jabbour, Ben Ramin, Mike Guardino, Adam Lauko, Jon Price, Adam Gentile, Blaine Drake and Jack Jeffery. It will be up to the likes of Stewart, Trevor Pauldine, Jake Gentile, Jim Goodridge and Christian Bono to keep the title run going.
